your receding gums

your dentist
comes into the room
as you lie back
in the chair
listening to the doors
greatest hits in muzak
form. she's holding
a computer print
out, x-rays
and pushing an
empty wheelbarrow.
you know the news
can't be good.
i'm very sorry to have
to tell you this,
she says, but
your gums are receding.
I measured them
last year and like
the shoreline
along our coasts,
there is less land
than there used
to be. no kidding,
you say. but isn't that
just the inevitability
of aging
and eventual death.
true she ways, but
we can do something
about that now
with our new gum implants.
we'll take the tissue
from another part
of your body and
surgical stitch it into
the places where
your gums have receded.
but maybe I like
the vampire look, you
tell her. it's kind
of a hip cool style
to have long teeth
in this day and age.
perhaps when all
the vampire movies
and shows go out
of fashion, i'll
consider it.
well, don't wait too
long, she says. right
now, the cost is only
one wheel barrow full
of money, next year it
could be two. well, i'm
willing to take my
chances, you tell her.
say, when does
that new technician come
in? the pale one with
dark eyes and red lips.
she's kind of cute.